Summary:
Bruce Buck was the one involved in discussions for a Super League, other conspirators were never convinced Abramovich was keen on the SL. Particularly with respect to Russian Teams and Sponsors in the CL.
Organisers of the Super League were more interested in negotiating with Levy than Spurs, he has championed the Super League idea for a while
Henry and Glazer started speaking regularly to each other when City started posing a threat, especially when City suppoesdly breached FFP. Kroenke was another willing ally
The idea that Chelsea signed up late seems untrue, Buck concluded that the elite clubs had to sign up with Real Madrid or risk being left behind, implying to me at least that he was involved in discussions
Ed Woodward supposedly acted as the person who was a realist about discussions, what Soriano (City) would call Dr No. Woodward caved the day after the Super League was announced and called Glazer to say he couldn't back the project, as Neville was talking about him Woodward had already quit.
Conversely, European sources say Woodward hadn't opposed the SL and only resigned when the plan went awry
Woodward expected the SL to succeed despite him resigning and is now wondering if he acted too hastily
City were the club Perez was talking about when they said one club had no interest an it affected all the rest
City could've aligned themselves with PSG/Bayern but those two are regarded as Qatari funded and so siding with them seemed unthinkable. FFP was also a factor, in that they still hold a grudge against UEFA
None of the organisers expected the government intervening, the UK's Envoy to the Gulf contacted the UAE to warn it could damage Abu Dhabi's relationship with the UK. Abu Dhabi decided it did not want it to become a diplomatic incident
InHouse Communications, the PR company, was brought in because it was perceived to be close to the PM, after being involved in his 2008 London Mayoral campaign
The bigger problem was that none of the Chairmen/senior board members wanted to execute the PR strategy that had been planned.
Abramovich and Mansour never spoke anyway but Levy was considered not important enough to take the lead and Kroenke was not part of the core group led by the Glazers and Perez
The Glazers did not want to go in front of cameras and Henry was not keen either, nobody wanted to be the one to do it, despite people telling them they needed to convince the public
The SL found out via the media that City/Chelsea were pulling out
The organisation was done via Zoom/Whatsapp/phone calls. One group of the owners, then a separate one for the executives. Some privates groups of certain groupings too.
When it was announced, a lot of the clubs were finding out details from the press release rather than from discussions beforehand
Chelsea started telling department heads on Friday that they were joining but the language made clear that it had been some time in planning
Chelsea is owned for reputational purposes, like City. Chelsea's directors realised that if they tried to stick it out, Abramovich's reputation could be ruined with the supporters and that could not be allowed to happen
City had nothing to lose by withdrawing as they don't really have a relation with other clubs in the PL. Soriano gets on better with Perez
The Super League was being talked about in 2016, Ed Woodward and Ivan Gazidis were invited to give their opinions on it by others in the ECA. Woodward showed little enthusiasm
Bayern were keen enough on the idea in 2016 to check if they could leave in the Bundesliga, but there was strong resistance from their supervisory board and it never went anywhere
Part of the reason the Big 6 made the leap is because the 14 dislike them more now under Masters than when Scudamore was in charge
Klopp has made his feelings clear to Gordon about the SL, FSG were warned about this beforehand and Klopp is still disappointed despite apologies
A foreign Liverpool player was confused before Leeds as to why they were being booed
Henderson mobilised Liverpool opposition after the Leeds game, his leadership was amazing and the rest of the players were all behind him. All of them regard the CL as the pinnacle and did not like the closed shop
A lot of the Arsenal players dislike Kroenke, going back to the pay-cut and subsequent sacking of club staff. The players are increasingly questioning the owner
Levy was infuriated in 2016 when the other 5 of the big 6 were invited to meet an executive from the International Champions Cup
Joe Lewis, the Spurs owner, seems to have been part of the group and likely in on this. But Levy was the one involved in negotiations and was very intent on joining
The SL organisers insist they were deadly serious about financing the women's game to an extent that would make it more on a level with the mens game
The money is regarded as absolutely necessary for Madrid because of their stadium and wanting Haaland/Mbappe
One board member from a Super League club abstained from the vote in the board on joining because he was so torn
The potential bans of clubs from the CL/EL are regarded as not financially sensible as these clubs are the main money generators, but there is anger from a lot of clubs on the continent
Agnelli is denying resigning but it does not seem sustainable for a man hated by UEFA and Serie A to be in charge
Woodward is leaving in the summer, ignore the PR spin about it being the end of the year
